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Lacy passes reasonable rules to protect the homeless and the community.

Deciding that the homeless deserve better treatment than to be stuffed into tents in a parking lot the City of Lacy passed an ordinance requiring churches to actually house the homeless and not abuse them as churches in King County do. Citing the victory by Woodinville that proved that cities can regulate Tent Cities and how churches treat the homeless and their neighbors the City of Lacy took a big step to ending the abuse of the homeless for political purposes. This will open the door for King County and the cities in it to revisit this issue and pass reasonable rules that protect all members of their communities. Congratulations to Lacy, job well done.

Court orders TC4 to vacate site - June 9th, 2006

In a heartfelt ruling Judge Mertel stated that -- it is easy to talk about groups that should go here or go there. It is more difficult to look into the eyes of individuals. And that "makes my decision even more difficult."

The judge then ruled that "The court finds that under the facts, the ordinance and moratorium to be facially neutral. It does not place a substantial burden on the free exercise of religion." He then also made a point to state that his ruling was made in consideration of "The US constitution, the constitution of the state of Washington, and RLUIPA."

He then went on to the 2004 agreement between Woodinville and S/W. He sated straight out "the agreement is unambiguous." And he said there is no need for anyone to tell him about the agreement and what it means. He said S/W agreed to submit an application for a permit in time to permit public notice and comment and agreed not to locate in the city without a permit. He said the agreement was entered into with the city in return for the city agreeing to house TC4 on city property two years before.

"This is a clear violation of their own agreement. The court finds the violation to be a nuisance per se and that there has been injury in fact to the public health, safety and welfare of the city." He said there had been injury directly to the city and injury to the city departments such as police and to the health department. "In fact, there has been damage to the environment, the camp surrounds a designated wetland."

He then ordered that the camp vacate NUCC property by midnight June 17th. Update: The Washington State Court of Appeals upheld the King County Superior Court ruling of June 2006 to evict the homeless encampment from NUCC. The city many now take action to collect the $100,000 in fines the Church owes.

Crime follows Tent City to yet another community.

Along with many reports of petty theft, mail theft, car prowls, and the other crime that has followed Tent Cty 4 everywhere it has ventured we now see in the Redmond Reporter:

Burglar: A 35-year-old transient was arrested for burglary in the 10300 block of 163rd Avenue NE at 9:01 p.m. by police who were responding to several calls from residents in the area. The man, who recently had been evicted from Tent City, had several items missing in the burglary in his possession. He was located by a police dog as he cased other homes in the neighborhood

Residents of the Lake Hills area of Bellevue need to be on the alert for the return of this type of crime to their community. A reminder that SHARE's claim that they run warrant and sex offender checks with the King County Sheriff are unfounded. There is no evidence to show that they run these checks.

Local or county, the mystery resolved

There has been much mystery over why SHARE refuses to allow Warrant and Sex Offender checks to be run by the police departments of cities they occupy. In a sudden change of position they stopped fighting these checks after every court ordered them run and every city started requiring them in TC 4 permits (TC 3 does not run these checks at all). They now proudly state that they "voluntarily adopted" a policy of running these checks, but only via the King County Sheriffs Department not with local police. This was their stated reason for refusing to use the Bothell permit issued to them.

This left a lot of people puzzled, why the hard line stance against local police running checks that are identical in process and results to what KCSO runs. At last the mystery has been solved. Research has shown there is no evidence at all that SHARE runs anything but token checks with the KCSO. This now makes their hard line stance understandable. With checks run by local police there would be red flags if the city saw a lot of new residents but few if any checks were being run. With the KCSO being so large, covering a county of 1.8 million people, and with cities being out of their jurisdition, it is easy for them to hide the fact they do not run these checks on all who come to stay in the camp.

They say they can be trusted to run these checks because of their history of keeping their word. Of course their word is worthless as they have broken numerous legal contracts and flaunted permitting laws in every city they have moved to.

Case closed on this mystery, SHARE found their way to prevent the checks they have fought so hard to avoid running.

Times Editorial Calls for Tent City Shutdown

Time has come for Tent City to recycle its floor pallets, put away its big plastic storage tubs and fold its tents. The moment has passed for this occupying band of homeless advocates.

Instead of tallying its camp sites, the days of the program should be numbered. This confrontational tactic is consuming more resources, goodwill and political support than it can ever hope to bring to the challenge of sheltering poor people.

Thank you for what has gone before, but the real hope for progress is found in commitments by key relief organizations in King and Snohomish counties to end homelessness in 10 years.

Tent City's bureaucratic and legal tribulations have become its story. Run-ins with city halls in Bellevue, Bothell and Woodinville have long overtaken any political message about the invisibility of the poor and the urgency to house the destitute.

Tent City sites have had criminal activity that include the following:

Kirkland Police Case 2005-33413 & 33423 - Tent City resident exposing himself to youth, substance abuse, and assault on a police officer
Bothell Police Case 04B-02942 - Possession of drugs in security tent (methamphetamine) from female Tent City Organization Security personnel

Bothell Police Case 04B-02668 - Level 2-sex offender, the person was removed from the Bothell Tent City 4. The Case report states that he was previously living in the Tent City 3 location. King County has a web site that list Hundreds of Homeless Sex Offenders from level 1 to level 3.

Bothell Police Case 04B-03345 - Assault Arrest

Bothell Police Case 04B-04203 - Domestic Violence

Bothell Police Case 04B-02768, Case 04B-03405, Case 04B-03943 - Felony

Bothell Police Case 04B-02651 - Misdemeanor convictions

Bothell Police Case 04B-02640 - Mental person apprehended at gunpoint

Bothell Police Case 04B-02756 - Friends of the Tent City 4 residents had criminal records including warrants for arrest
King County Police Records Department - Six arrest were made in the Woodinville Tent City 4 location

Even with background checks, strict rules and site security, criminal activity is rampant in and around Tent Cities. Information Retail stores in areas surrounding Tent City sites report huge increases in shoplifting and loitering (often for the purpose of panhandling). Littering of drug paraphernalia and alcoholic beverage containers in surrounding areas also increases drama

Bothell Police Reports

Health Risks to Homeless and Community

A UW Medical expert has submitted to the City of Kirkland documentation of the serious health risks to the residents and community. His full submission is linked here but his key points are:

The medical issues that need to be addressed concern the risk to the Kirkland community from:

1. An epidemic of pulmonary tuberculosis, a highly communicable disease which is difficult to treat often requiring up to 6 months to a year of treatment with toxic drugs that can make you go blind [TB positive rates are about 20% in homeless populations]
2) The density of individuals living in this East of Market space is higher than allowed by the World Health Organization for refuge camps. This is for good reason.
3) I am concerned about the ability of this community to meet the health care needs of the increased umber of homeless and insuranceless which consist of TC4 residents.
4) The possibility of increased ellicit drug use in our community by such individuals who no longer live at TC4 but decide to stay in the community and become resident homeless (and abuse drugs). Used HIV or hepatitis C laden hypodermic needles showing up in our community lavatories and restuarant/cafe bathrooms (as happens with regularity in downtown Seattle) is a serious concern and poses a tangible health risk (accidental needle stick injury and disease transmission) to us all.

With the recent and very real concerns over a potential Pandemic hitting our area we must be extra concerned by the rapid spread among the homeless that can occur from them living in close quarters and without monitoring by health departments.